Silent Movement On Toronto Street

Posters on lampposts condemning discrimination
Rahman Mohamed

The war in Syria has brought many actions to Toronto including funds being raised by the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Student Union (ACSSU), raising awareness of Syrian culture and current survival conditions, and displaying the life of a Syrian refugee by imitating it.   Recently a silent movement has appeared; a series of posters has appeared on lampposts at Spadina, south of Bloor.  The Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre is at the corner of Spadina and Bloor, across from the TTC Spadina Station.  Further down the street is the University of Toronto Multi-Faith Centre.  Along the way there are a series of posters promoting acceptance of Muslims and encouraging an end to fascism
Featuring silhouettes and short text a set of three simple paper posters are seen along Spadina on lampposts covering regular sale and help wanted signs.

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Discrimination: Alive in 21st Century North America

More than ever before
Rahman Mohamed
Updated 5 March 2017

Prejudice: judgement based on a single aspect; considering someone to act and behave in a certain way because of a certain quality. Discrimination: dividing a group of people into multiple groups using prejudice.  Ableism: creating an us and them using disability, a prejudgement of persons with disability second-class to “normal” people or people without a visible disability is a relatively new form of discrimination.  North America has battled discrimination since the landing of the Europeans.  Aboriginals, Indigenous persons, Inuit, and others were classified as second-class.  Although it as made strong gains in attempts to silence discrimination it is still alive in North America, both within society and among social leaders in Canada and United States. Continue reading

Friday the 13th

Good or bad?  The Academics decide
Rahman Mohamed

According to the Gregorian calendar, used internationally, the 13th day of two months falls on a Friday.  2017: January, Friday the 13th and October, Friday the 13th.  Legend has it that Friday the 13th is considered unlucky.  The fact: with varying results, Friday the 13th has has been proven to be both lucky and unlucky in studies by academics (aka people who are just as sane as you or I but “just a bit smarter”). Continue reading